Kritolaos created this foundation for the 'heroisation' of his son, in which respect it is similar to the foundation of Epikteta at Thera ( GRA_1671 ). For some comments on the inscription, see A.Helmis, "Entre les vivants et les morts: La fondation à la mémoire d'Aleximachos fils de Critolaos" ( Google Books ), and K.Harter-Uibopuu, "Money for the polis: Public administration of private donations in Hellenistic Greece", pp. 126-130 ( academia.edu ). The translation is partly adapted from A.R.Hands, "Charities and Social Aid in Greece and Rome" (1968), pp. 177-178.
[A] In the month of Apatourion, Architeles son of Parmenion, Kratesilochos son of Hegias, and Leonteus son of Hegias were chosen by the people according to the resolution to bring in a law for arranging the loaning out of the money which Kritolaos son of Alkimedon bestowed, and for the public feast and athletic contest, and to carry through all the other provisions; and they have introduced a law for the enrolment of Aleximachos son of Kritolaos as a hero, in accordance with the vote of the people and with the purpose of Kritolaos' gift of two thousand drachmas, in the following terms.
The money is to be lent out in the month of Apatourion by the archon and the prytaneis and the officers in charge of rents {misthōtai}10 and Kritolaos son of Alkimedon. It is to be lent out at 10 per cent and the borrowers are to give up as security landed estates to the value of not less than two thousand drachmas, and the loan is not to exceed two hundred drachmas; and the secretary shall register in the public records the name of each borrower and their father and their deme and the amount of money that they borrowed, and the security that they gave, explicitly, and they shall subjoin the names of the neighbours around them; and the borrowers shall pay interest of 10 per cent for the money, always making the payment at the council meeting in the month of Apatourion, 20 in the same way as sacred money; and the principal is to be secured to the borrowers on the basis of the securities on which each borrowed the money, in the same way as with the tribal dues, in perpetuity; and the lenders are not to exact payment of it, and the borrowers are not permitted to pay down the money borrowed, but they are to continue with the loan on the securities on which they borrow in perpetuity.
If anyone pays back the principal by any device, even if the archons accept the payment from him, it shall not be regarded as paid by him, but he shall owe the money on the same securities, and nonetheless he shall be liable to pay interest on the same basis; and if the new archons accept the payment, they shall owe a penalty of one thousand drachmas to the public treasury, and the payment shall be invalid; and if any of the borrowers 30 does not pay the interest at the council meeting in the month of Apatourion, the council and the auditors {logistai} and the archon shall promptly exact the payment, just as in the case of sacred money, both the whole sum and half again. The hirers shall make an advance payment of the rent at the council meeting, and if there is any surplus of rent from the land that is hired out, they shall promptly pay the excess of the interest to the owner of the security at the council meeting, both the whole sum and half again; and the secretary shall register the security that has been hired, and the name of the hirer, and how much he hired it for, and what he paid in advance; and if any hirer does not promptly pay in advance at the council meeting, the secretary shall register him as owing a penalty of two hundred drachmas to the public treasury.
[B] In order that the public feast may be carried out 40 in the year after . . . son of Ariston is archon, two supervisors {epimeletai} are to be chosen from the whole people of Aigiale, not less than thirty years of age, and those so chosen are at once to receive the money falling due and to buy a bullock of not less than two years and to sacrifice it in the house of Kallistratos . . . and the prytaneis and the gymnasiarch and the ephebes shall attend in procession upon the bullock from the prytaneion, and all the younger men shall follow in procession; and if they do not, the gymnasiarch shall force those who do not follow to comply, by whatever means he can; and whenever they hold the dinner, the supervisors shall supply the meat of whole animal and provide a feast and act as monthly officials at the dinner; if they think that anything else is needed, they shall add to the existing money for the public feast, 50 acting as epimenioi with the gymnasiarch; the supervisors shall use the money that is assigned to the monthly officials for the dinner, and shall arrange all the (?) couches to form a triclinium; and they shall provide the dinner for all the citizens who are resident at Aigiale and the foreign residents {paroikoi} and the foreigners who are present, with the Romans and their sons reclining in groups of nine; and they shall supply sweet honey mixed with milk and provide the whole service for the dinner, making available wood and water and oil. And the feast shall be a compulsory feast in the gymnasium, 60 and the supervisors shall set beside those in the dining-room a meal, regardless of expense, and flowers, and they shall set before them all the rest of what is sacrificed; but they shall sell the hides immediately and spend the proceeds on the spot; and the officers in charge shall give to each of the ephebes pork to the weight of a mina, and all that is set before them may be carried away from the dining room.
The supervisors shall set aside from the money on the following day the cost of nine metretai of wine, and they shall arrange the whole service in the same manner for the following day, together with the wine; and the supervisors shall supply sweetmeats on both the days, and they shall provide the public feast in the gymnasium. 70 They shall issue rations of corn, having bought corn-wheat with the money, giving it on the first day to the citizens who are resident and the resident foreigners and foreigners visiting us, to each man a choinix and to each child half a choinix.
[C] In order that the contest may take place, at daybreak on the first day of the month the supervisors shall slaughter a goat, as fine as possible, next to wherever Kritolaos places the statue of his son Aleximachos; and they shall provide another offering of half a hekteus of wheat, and after boiling the meat of the whole goat, they shall place it beside the statue, along with the other offering; and on the second day they shall perform the athletic festival, with the gymnasiarch using for the prizes 80 the whole of the ram and half of the food provided, and the other half shall be for the prytaneis and the supervisors. They shall establish all the prizes for boys and men according to the gymnasiarch's law; and they shall not set up prizes for the pankration, but Aleximachos son of Kritolaos shall be hailed as victor in the pankration. The gymnasiarch shall take care that a torch-race of boys and of men takes place, making the arrangements as seems fit to him, and forcing all the youths of the assigned years to join in running.
[D] Before they hold the contest, the supervisors shall render an account of the expenses made, writing it onto wooden tablets for the prytaneis and the gymnasiarch, who shall display it for everyone to read. And the supervisors shall swear the following oath:
90 We swear by Zeus, Poseidon and Demeter, that we have spent all the money assigned especially for the public feast and the contest, having taken off the cost of nine metretai of wine, and we have not embezzled anything. We will appoint as supervisor the wealthiest man amongst the benefactors and those who are free from liturgies {aleitourgētoi}, in order that he may perform his duties most excellently. If we swear truly, may it be well for us; but if we swear falsely, may the opposite happen.
When they have sworn, the supervisors shall pick supervisors who are not younger than thirty years and do not hold any other civil liturgy. The chosen men shall administer the money according to what is stated in the law, and they shall be registered in the council meeting when accepting the money accrued. The secretary shall register the chosen men; 100 and the herald shall promptly announce at the contest that the mature men and the ephebes and the youths crown Aleximachos son of Kritolaos on account of the virtue and discipline that he continually displays.
[E] In order that the sacrifice may occur for all time, the prytaneis who are in office in the month of Taureon shall sacrifice a goat on the same day that they sacrifice to Epikrates, receiving the money for this also as set aside by the treasurers, and the treasurers shall be compelled to give it.
[F] If anyone buys or pledges the securities that are owed, the man who holds the security shall bring the interest in the way that is prescribed, and pay it at the council meeting in the month of Apatourion; if he does not bring it, the security shall be put out for hire on the same terms; 110 there shall never be any payment of the principal, and the council and the archon and the treasurers, when they exact the money, shall promptly give the money to the appointed supervisors at the council meeting; and the secretary shall register the names of those who have paid, and how much each of them paid, and the names of the supervisors who received the money, and how much they received; it shall not be permitted for the council to hold any other business, nor shall the president put forward any business, until they have exacted the interest from those who owe this money; 120 if anyone is appointed as supervisor and receives the money, but does not fulfil his duties, he shall pay a penalty of one thousand drachmas to the public treasury, and the official in charge of debts {praktor} shall exact the penalty; if he does not, he shall be liable to prosecution by whoever wishes. If anyone who is appointed as supervisor and receives the money then dies, his heirs shall pay back the money in the first assembly after he dies, and the people shall promptly give the sum and the money that has been paid to the public treasury.
[G] It shall not be permitted for the principal that has been bestowed by Kritolaos to be transferred to anything else, and if anyone proposes or puts to the vote, or the supervisor or the presidents introduce for debate or the secretary writes or reads out, that the money should be allocated for something else, or that anything else that is prescribed in the law should be altered, whoever does this shall be stripped of his rights and his property shall be confiscated; any citizen of Aigiale who wishes and who is eligible may submit an indictment to the thesmothete 130 on the basis of receiving half the money. This law shall be valid for all time, and the secretary shall register it in the public records and in the tablets where the laws are registered; and Kritolaos shall inscribe it on a stele and shall set it up wherever he places the statue.
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